V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #54: Subtle

June 24, 2019.Reading time 1 minute.

Subtle is: 1. not loud, bright, noticeable, or obvious in any way; 2. small but important; 3. achieved in a quiet way that does not attract attention to itself and is therefore good or clever. Cambridge English Dictionary Subtlety is not my strong suit. I am outspoken, exuberant, and often joke that I have to […]

Lottery for Life

June 23, 2019.Reading time 1 minute.

Lottery has been the focus this week. In Canada, our LottoMax now has two draws a week – the dream is apparently alive and flourishing. My mind has turned to the immigration process, part of which is a lottery program. Although, I am not fully versed in this process, I remember hearing the story of […]

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #53: Lottery

June 17, 2019.Reading time 1 minute.

A psychic told Ric that he would win $33 million in a lottery. “Good,” he responded, “because I have no retirement plan.” Always the joker. Still, it’s something we love to fantasize about: what would we do? Ric felt as if he’d won the lottery when diagnosed with Stage III cancer. Six months later, the […]

Orange Is An Anomaly

June 16, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

ArtisticallyNaturedOccasionallyMadAlwaysLearningYearning… According to the True Colours system of analyzing personalities, I am flaming orange, with the least amount of gold, and a balance between green and blue. What that means is that I dislike structure, am highly creative (and a risk-taker) and in equal measure crave order, and feel inadequate. In other words, finding balance […]

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #52: anomaly

June 10, 2019.Reading time 1 minute.

A doctor recently referred to me as an anomaly. It’s not the first time I’ve heard it from the medical profession. Hardly reassuring. The other day, walking amongst the tall green trees, wondering at the richness of the foliage around me, I spotted a twig of a branch with three red leaves on it. Odd […]

Green Is A Novice

June 9, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

I catch myself playing that soul-stripping game of comparison, and come up feeling dreadfully inadequate. My writing is lacking, my photography sucks, and it’s an embarrassment to self that I even post my art. Not actually – but this is the fallout from comparison. I need to turn this thinking around: I am blessed to […]

Into the Woods, Nostalgia

June 4, 2019.Reading time less than 1 minute.

I search for her in wooded places,where trees are guardians,and wildlife reigns Where light dances with shadowsand children’s hearts are free to imagine. Wooded areas, especially when there is a stream, take me back to childhood and the countless hours spent in search of nature’s wonders. (For Nancy Merrill’s A Photo A Week Challenge: nostalgia. […]

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #51: Green

June 3, 2019.Reading time 1 minute.

“It’s not easy being green,” Kermit the Frog sings. I suppose not if you are green with envy. “I have to smoke,” my father would say. “I’m too green to burn.” I am in love with the multi shades of green that mark our Spring season here in Ontario, so I have decided to make […]

Acceptance and Endurance

June 2, 2019.Reading time 1 minute.

Some things are put in our path to battle, some to test our faith, and some to teach us acceptance. I wrote this while waiting to see the specialist, not knowing the outcome. Seems my lesson, this time, was as Jazz noted in the comments this week, was endurance. Happily, I made it. Inspired by […]

Lessons in Acceptance

May 28, 2019.Reading time 3 minutes.

When my eldest sister was diagnosed with acute leukaemia and given a month to a year to live, I had to scramble to be there for her. You see, I was deathly afraid of hospitals, and almost fainted the day she had her spinal tap. I had to find a way to conquer my phobias […]